


A Week

by AnagramRMX



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Cassandra is a good bro, Cliche, Competitive Romance, Engagement, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 05:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9705152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnagramRMX/pseuds/AnagramRMX
Summary: Ezekiel finds something he shouldn’t have, and is kind of an asshole about it.Jacob retaliates with a week of teasing, and it kind of devolves from there.Cassandra wouldn’t have believed this was their marriage proposal if she wasn’t there.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's day everyone :D Little early, but hey, it's already the 14th somewhere, right?

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter what. Jake’ll know what I’m talking about. Just tell him for me? Please?”

Cassandra heaved out a sigh, giving Ezekiel a frustrated look before nodding. “Only because you said please,” she said begrudgingly. “But I want an explanation-wait, wait no. No I don’t. It’ll just make this worse.”

She turned around, starting to walk out of the Annex as Ezekiel let out a laugh behind her. She replayed Ezekiel’s message in her head, making a face as she tried to figure out a less disturbing explanation.

Because seriously, she really hoped it didn’t mean what she thought it did.

She walked through the Library towards the history section, and unsurprisingly found Jacob at his usual table with books spread out all around him, typing at his laptop.

He heard her coming, and gave her a small wave in greeting. “Hey, Cass. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. At least I hope nothing. Ezekiel wasn’t clear.”

At his boyfriend’s name, Jacob looked up, paying more attention than before. “What do you mean?” he asked suspiciously.

Cassandra sighed, putting a hand up to her temple. “Ezekiel told me to tell you something…” She felt her face heat up. “He said he found ‘ _it’_ ,” she paused, putting air quotes around the word, “a month ago, and that you have a week to give _‘it’_ to him before he puts ‘ _it’_ on without you.” She shuddered. “I don’t know what ‘ _it’_ is, but I feel dirty. Please tell me this wasn’t some kind of round about-“

She focused back in on Jacob’s face, though, and saw that his eyes had gone wide, and he’d started to turn red. She almost groaned, trying to get the idea of lingerie and her best friends out of her head.

“Oh, oh no, it is…oh god, brain bleach…”

“What?” Jacob grunted. “Cassie it’s not-“

“Why did he have to send me to tell you? I’ll never get this out of my head…”

“Cassandra, it’s not like that.”

She shuddered a little. “What else would it be?”

But, when she looked back at Jacob, he seemed more sheepish than anything. Not embarrassed, but like Cassandra had caught him hiding her birthday present, or forgetting to take the trash out.

“Jacob?” she asked.

“It’s…” Jacob started, scratching the back of his head. “Ah…I think he found his engagement ring.”

Oh.

Oh!

She would still never get those images out of her head, but this was so much better!

Cassandra squealed a little, bouncing over to hug him before taking a seat next to him. “Congratulations!”

Jacob still didn’t seem too excited though. “No-no-no, not congratulations,” he grumbled in frustration, covering his face with his hands. “I haven’t asked yet. Fuck. I wasn’t ready to ask yet.”

Her smile started to fall. That was less exciting.

“If you weren’t ready to ask, then why did you buy the ring?”

His head snapped up without pause. “That’s not what I meant,” he said firmly. “Look, I am definitely ready to propose, but I haven’t figured out how to do it yet. Christ, I didn’t know for sure if he even wanted to get married until two seconds ago.”

“Isn’t that normally something people discuss?”

“I’m sorry, since _when_ are we normal?”

“Fair point.” Cassandra rubbed her hands together. “Okay, so at least you know he does want to get married. That’s a plus, right? Takes the pressure off?”

“I guess,” Jacob said. He rubbed the back of his head. “Still, I haven’t thought of a good way to ask yet. I wanted it to be special and now I only have a week to plan...”

“You could always just hide the ring somewhere else.”

Jacob shook his head. “Probably not a good idea,” he said, his voice actually sounding kind of sad. “I mean, you know how he can be. If I move it he’s gonna think I don’t actually want to marry him.” He heaved a sigh before shrugging. “Besides, you know he’d still find it if he really wanted it.”

“Also a good point.” She hummed thoughtfully, wondering what she could do to help, short of telling Ezekiel to wait it out. “What ideas _did_ you have before now?”

“Not a lot. I was thinking New Years, but it’s not really all that special to us anyway. It’s also ten months away, so.”

“Not exactly in the time limit,” Cassandra agreed. “You both like Paris, right? You could go there and ask at the Eiffel tower.”

“Maybe, but isn’t that a little corny?”

“Please, this is Ezekiel we’re talking about. He’ll love corny.”

“But is it the right way to propose?” Jacob sighed. “I mean I only get this once, and I wanted it to be…” He fumbled for the words, shaking his hands in frustration before running a hand through his hair. “I mean really? Why a week? It would server him right if I didn’t…”

He stopped in the middle of the sentence, looking straight ahead and narrowing his eyes. It was fairly evident that he had gotten some kind of idea, and Cassandra looked at him warily. “If you didn’t what? Please Jacob, don’t tell me this is more-“

“No, again. Not dirty,” Jacob muttered. “I was thinking it would serve him right if I didn’t ask at all.”

She made a face. “Didn’t you just say that you _didn’t_ want him to think that?”

“I know,” Jacob said. “I mean, I’m still gonna ask. But maybe not when he thinks I’m going to…”

“You have a week. How many opportunities could you possibly have to ask?”

Jacob grinned, going back to his worktable and pulling out a notebook. “Oh, you’d be surprised.”

Whatever he was planning, it made Cassandra kind of nervous. Despite their relationship, the boys had never stopped competing with each other over everything, or teasing each other for kicks. She knew that they wouldn’t deliberately hurt each other, but still, this was bigger than racing to get a book first. It was like playing with fire.

That said, Ezekiel had definitely started it.

And Cassandra was intrigued.

She leaned on the table. “Tell me more.”

(-:-)

The plan wasn’t bad. Cassandra was still a little concerned about Ezekiel’s reaction, but as proposals went, she had heard worse.

Between her and Jacob, they’d come up with more than enough for the week, and she felt a little giddy being a participant in such an important moment for her friends. Even if she’d just be keeping Ezekiel busy while Jacob did prep work.

Plus, the first part of it was even Cassandra’s idea. If he only had a week, Jake decided that he needed to make the most of it, and taking Ezekiel to Paris for the night required the least planning. It was cute, really: they’d go out for food from street vendors, and take a romantic walk around the city, enjoying the lights and the architecture.

Cassandra went into work, excited to see the result.

Considering how smug Jake looked, she presumed it had gone well.

Whatever Ezekiel thought about it, he wasn’t giving away that morning, bouncing around the annex and causing mayhem as always. Cassandra felt a bit relieved. If he were upset, or worried about what was going on, he would have taken off and hidden somewhere instead of sticking around.

Still, he narrowed in on Cassandra shortly after the morning had started, once Jacob had left to prepare that night’s activities, and Eve took off with Flynn on a mission.

“What did Jake tell you yesterday?”

Cassandra smiled. “What did he tell me about what?”

“You know what,” Ezekiel groaned. “About the thing I told you to tell him.”

“You mean the engagement ring? The thing you let me think was sexy underwear?”

Ezekiel paused, and pointed at her. “Okay, it’s not my fault you assumed that.”

“You definitely meant for me to assume _something_.”

“Still. You obviously know what’s going on, so what did he say?”

“Um, considering the amount of brain bleach you owe me, why should I tell you?”

Ezekiel took a seat in the chair next to her, and waved at himself magnanimously. “Because I’m your best friend?”

“Jacob’s my friend too.”

“Then because I said please?”

That made Cassandra frown a little. “Okay, that isn’t going to work every time. But really Ezekiel, I’m not going to tell you. And it’s not just because you were messing with me yesterday. You gave your boyfriend a deadline on proposing. A _really_ short one too, so forgive me if I’m not being charitable.”

If nothing else, the accusation seemed to make Ezekiel pause a little. He pursed his lips seriously, and eventually grumbled, “It wasn’t…okay, I’m sorry. I was getting impatient. But if he bought the ring then why is he waiting so long to ask?”

“Does it matter? You’re going to get it eventually, Jacob just needed more time to plan,” she sighed. “How did you even find the ring anyway? I thought you stopped going through his things when you moved in together.”

“I wasn’t going through anything.”

“Ezekiel.”

“I wasn’t! I was leaving him something. As a present. The ring just happened to be there.”

“What kind of present would you be leaving in Jacob’s underwear drawer?”

“Do you really want me to answer that question?”

“Nope. No, no, no. No.”

“Okay then. Now really-why hasn’t he asked?”

“Because he was trying to find a special way to propose. You know Jacob. He wants things to be as romantic as possible. He only bought the ring two months ago.”

Ezekiel’s face went slack for a second. “Wait-two months?”

Cassandra nodded. “How long did you think he’d had it?”

“Like, five. We saw the ring he bought me in a display case around then, so.”

“Oh. That makes a little more sense.” Or at least, Cassandra thought so. An ultimatum was still a horrible move, but maybe she’d forgive Ezekiel a little if he’d thought it had been that long. She shook her head. “Either way, though, the deadline screwed both of you over. Jacob was freaking out about not being able to plan something romantic enough in under a week.”

“Why? He basically pulled last night out of his arse,” Ezekiel huffed. “And I was waiting for him to ask for half of the night for god’s sake…”

Cassandra smiled, and giggled a little, unfortunately drawing Ezekiel’s attention to her.

“…wait a second. Is he doing this to be spiteful?”

“Is he doing what to be spiteful? Being a good boyfriend and taking you to the most romantic city in the world?”

Ezekiel narrowed his eyes. “No, no, no. Jake does that plenty, but right after he finds out I know he’s going to propose?” He shook his head, and stood up. “That smells fishy.”

“If you say so,” Cassandra said with a tiny laugh.

“I do say so. That jerk,” Ezekiel muttered, although there wasn’t any actual heat in his tone. “I’ll show him.”

This made Cassandra’s brow furrow. “What?”

Ezekiel turned around, grinning. “You heard me. Two can play at this game. He wants to be mushy and tease me with a ring: good on him. But I can be a good boyfriend too-let’s see how long it takes for me to wear him down.”

Oh. Cassandra should have seen this coming.

“Are you making your marriage proposal a competition?”

“Hey, I want that ring,” Ezekiel said shortly, before he paused, looking a little nervous for maybe the first time in this conversation. “He’s still going to ask though, right? Like, he wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t mean to propose eventually. Even if it’s not this week…”

Cassandra almost sighed. If nothing else, Jacob did know his boyfriend very well,  and had accurately predicted Ezekiels fears. He still sometimes doubted the possibility of a real, loving relationship. They weren’t always nice to each other, but Jacob had been trying to prove he wasn’t going anywhere since basically their first date.

“I’m not going to answer that,” she eventually sighed. “But, I will remind you that Jacob was trying to figure out the _perfect_ way to ask, and I promise he didn’t sell the ring just because he’s a little frustrated.”

Ezekiel turned, and smiled a little. “Right,” he affirmed. “Right…Anyway! I need a plan. Got any ideas?”

Cassandra huffed. “You want me to plan how you’re going to sabotage the plan I helped make?”

“Who better?” Ezekiel asked. “I mean-I don’t actually want ruin whatever you and Jacob planned for the week, just for it to go faster. So, even if you don’t tell me what’s going on, you can make sure I don’t spoil it.”

“Ezekiel, I don’t know…”

“Come on, you know Jake likes being romantic. Please keep me from making an ass of myself when he’s trying to propose. Even if you won’t help your bestie, you’re his friend too, remember?”

Narrowing her eyes, Cassandra stood up a little. “Ooooh. That’s playing dirty.”

“Did it work?”

She glared, and sat down in a huff. “Yes.”

“Excellent!” Ezekiel declared, before sitting down. “Thank you for the assistance.”

If she was honest, Cassandra wasn’t even that reluctant as she helped Ezekiel. If nothing else, this week was going to be fun.

(-:-)

When the next day rolled around, Cassandra was already sitting in one of the chairs in the annex, holding her cup of coffee and waiting for the show to start.

The night before had required very specific circumstances, but, thankfully, it was a Friday, and the gallery Jacob wanted to visit was having a Meet & Greet. It wasn’t exactly the splendor of the grand opening, like he and Ezekiel’s first date, but it was enough.

Considering that Ezekiel was the one who had planned the original date, Cassandra had a hard time not slipping too many details as Ezekiel tried planning how he was going to add to the evening. Actually, she was positive she had failed at hiding things, considering the challenging glances that the boys shot each other that entire day.

Jacob pulled her aside when she went to get a cup of coffee, immediately asking, “What did you tell him?”

Raising an eyebrow, Cassandra asked. “Why? What did he do?”

“What-what do you mean? You don’t know?”

Cassandra shrugged. “I know that he’s trying to be super romantic to get you to propose faster, but I never asked for the details. That’s already gotten me in trouble way too many times. Seriously, though, what happened?”

“Well, aside from the spontaneous serenade on the highline…”

“Woah-wait, what?” Cassandra interrupted. “Was Ezekiel serenading? Ezekiel sings?”

Jacob rolled his eyes, trying to hide the smile on his face at the mere suggestion. “No,” he said. “But he did hire an indie artist from New York that we both like to show up last night.”

“Awww, that’s sweet,” Cassandra cheered.

“I know! How did he get that done?!” Jacob groaned. “Oh-and that was before I found out that he fucking commissioned a ten-thousand-dollar painting for me.”

The price tag made Cassandra’s eyes bulge. “What?”

“I don’t even know.” Jacob dragged a hand down his face, before putting both hands on the chair in front of him to ground himself. “We went to Whitney Small’s gallery, right? Same as we did on our first date, and there’s this piece she came out with a few months ago that I really like. So we were talking about it when the curator walks up, and I already knew she was friends with Ezekiel, but then they start talking about transport and shipping, and Ezekiel is just like, _we’ll grab it at the end of the night,_ and Martha is acting like nothing’s wrong.

“Apparently, Ezekiel commissioned it. I don’t know why, or what for, but he was letting her display it until he was ready to give it to me.” He groaned. “Jesus, who does that kind of thing? I mean-that painting is amazing! How did he even think of this?”

In hindsight, Cassandra remembered this discussion. Ezekiel hadn’t given her all of the details, but he had started thinking about Jacob’s next birthday present as soon as his last one was over. He’d asked Cassandra to analyze some geometric proportions and their effects in art before he had commissioned it, although she had never thought that it would be that expensive.

The fact that it had worked out like that was very smooth of Ezekiel. It was also indicative that Cassandra had given him too many hints the day before.

Still, she smiled. Based on how Jake was trying not to smile, but also incredibly frustrated just proved that it was a good idea for Ezekiel. And both of them were obviously enjoying it.

“Well I think it’s sweet,” she said encouragingly.

“Oh, it totally is,” Jacob agreed. “I’m not going to argue that. But this isn’t how this week was supposed to go!!!”

“Hey, it’s still on track,” she soothed. “Look, just because Ezekiel is adding to it doesn’t mean that you aren’t going to make your point. I actually think it’ll be better this way, if both of you are involved.”

The statement did make Jacob pause to think, but he still pouted slightly. “But this was supposed to be about him,” he muttered, a little abashed.

Cassandra let out a little laugh. They all knew Jacob liked it. He still didn’t always think it was his place, like he needed to be the one wooing Ezekiel all the time. Cassandra wasn’t going to psychoanalyze the reason for that, but she put a hand on Jacob’s shoulder.

“Well, my opinion, This is about both of you, Jake,” she said, tapping him on the shoulder encouragingly before she grinned. “But feel free to up your game if you think it’ll get him back, though.”

“Since when was this a contest?”

“Really? Everything with you two is a contest.”

Jacob tilted his head, ceding the point with a nod. “Well, you’re not wrong,” he muttered, standing back up. “Looks like I have more planning to do.” He grinned slightly before walking off.

Leaning against one of the tables, Cassandra shook her head. Maybe she should consider discouraging this for once.

Then again: nah.

(-:-)

Cassandra missed whatever happened on Saturday night, as Sunday was their day off, but didn’t miss Ezekiel’s rant about it as he also ranted about how hard it was to plan guerilla romance in a rainforest.

Because that was how his weekend was gone.

Saturday night was the cheesiest thing ever, he had decided. Jacob had just decided to stay in, after all, but that hadn’t left him without any method of possibly proposing.

Nope. He had gone with the classics.

Apparently, there had been candles, and rose petals, and a bubble bath, and Ezekiel had almost been sick with laughter, until he realized that there was also steak and Indiana Jones movies.

Jacob had even seemed to accept this as a bit of a joke, with how he was making all of the over the top gestures. But he had also wanted to be sure it was actually something they would enjoy. Ezekiel had never gotten over his love of red meat after the werewolf thing, and both of them loved making fun of the mistakes in the tomb raiding movies.

He had, thankfully, neglected to tell Cassandra anything more about the bubble bath part.

Ezekiel had thrown in dessert, a fancy assortment of treats from one of their favorite bakeries in Portland, as well as his ability to make flower crowns. Apparently, Ezekiel had felt like a loser as he tore up the flowers Jacob had on the table and wove them together during the movies, but Jacob loved it, even as he laughed.

Ezekiel was willing to call the night even

The real frustration, though, had been on the ‘surprise’ (Ezekiel was very dubious. There was no way Jacob could have played that out on a spur of the moment.) entry in their clippings books. For the most part, their individual books stayed silent these days, but if there was a mission that would specifically target one of their skillsets, the books would let them know.

So, the two of them had decided to go ahead, and wound up trekking through Argentina to find some sort of statue before the area was disturbed by a development company. It had been fairly easy, but the scenery as they searched had been beautiful, and both of them had gotten to show off as they disabled the traps protecting it.

But that wasn’t the end of it. After successfully retrieving the statue, Jacob had ‘found’ a waterfall with a pool of clear water beneath it. He’d somehow had a picnic lunch on him as well, and Ezekiel blamed Cassandra for that part.

She didn’t deny it. Planning picnic lunches was her secondary mutation, and Jacob had taken full advantage.

So they’d stayed there for most of the afternoon, and wound up back in civilization before dark. They were a little gross, and were planning to go back to the Annex and then home, but Ezekiel was not one to be outdone. It was a rush job, but he had barely managed to finagle lodging at an inn in the rural town they were in before Jacob caught on. After cleaning up, they’d explored the town, letting Jacob enchant the locals while Ezekiel encouraged mayhem from the children running around. They’d made friends with a small family, who invited them back to dinner.

And then there had been an angry, vengeful man there to enact a curse on his brother.

That was the part where Ezekiel’s “Jacob Planned This” theory started to develop holes.

As the uncle started monologuing, the family’s teenaged daughter pulled out a saber sword, vowing to protect her family. Jacob and Ezekiel got the rest of the family to safety. As the girl and her uncle fought, her father stayed on the sidelines, too weak to fight, but trying to talk some sense into his brother, and eventually jumped in front of his daughter to protect her from being impaled.

It gave the girl the moment she needed to disarm her uncle and ruin his chances of cursing them, but there was still a guy dying on the floor, which was a bummer. Thankfully, there were Librarians in attendance, and their new artifact was capable of healing him.

It had been fun, and heartwarming, and exhausting. They were fed, and now had eternal friends in rural Argentina, and had completely passed out once they got back to their room at the inn.

Monday morning, Jenkins had pulled them through the door, amused at whatever had occurred. Jacob was somewhere between happy about another job well done, and confused about how the Library had known to give them a romantic adventure in the jungle while also getting them to grab an artifact and save someone from magic.

Ezekiel was just trying to figure out how Jacob had planned that, and vowed to one up him that night.

(-:-)

Day six opened with Ezekiel storming through the annex on a mission.

Cassandra and Jacob shared a look, not sure what had gotten into him, and a little nervous about it. After getting the lowdown on the night before, Jacob had left Cassandra to handle it, worried that he’d gone too far, but not quite willing to give up on what he had planned. Since Cassandra knew what the endgame was, she agreed to it, and went to see if Ezekiel was okay.

“Ezekiel? What’s wrong?”

“What? Nothing. Nothing at all. Just…” he paused, gritting his teeth a little. “Last night…”

Cassandra nodded, understanding. The night before, Jacob had decided to get in on a Charity Ball at Buckingham Palace, revisiting their first mission after they met. Eve had tagged along with Flynn, making sure they were all legal guests, even though that hadn’t been necessary, considering Ezekiel had texted the queen to let her know he would be turning up at some point.

From what Jake had told her, they had been greeted at the doors like VIPs, and Jacob had been swept away by meeting the royal family and getting to see a few of the portraits in the private collection. What really got him was when Ezekiel had gotten him alone in the gallery, though, and Ezekiel had kissed him and told him he loved how passionate he was, how his eyes lit up when he talked about architecture and art.

Even though Jacob had known full-well what Ezekiel was doing, Jacob had found an opening right there and then. He could have asked and it would have felt like he’d planned it that way.

But he also remembered what he had planned for the night, and he had become a little attached to the actual proposal he was planning, so no matter how perfect, right there and then wouldn’t be as satisfying as if he waited.

So, instead of dropping to one knee, he pulled Ezekiel back across the dancefloor and snuck behind the wall panel that led to the tunnels where The Stone (Of the Sword in the Stone) was kept. They didn’t go that far, memories of near-death and betrayal still lingering, but in the wine cellar, Jacob had kept Ezekiel close, whispering about how this had been the start of it.

It had been the first time they’d really worked as a team, there in that cavern.

Where, even if they didn’t get along at first, Jacob and Ezekiel had forged the relationship that would one day turn into a friendship, and then the most loving relationship either of them had ever had.

Even though there had been ups and downs, triumphs, fights, separation, and more days of love and laughter than Jacob could count, this was the first day of the rest of their lives together.

And the look on Ezekiel’s face almost broken him.

Caught up in each other, and how much they had been through to get to this point, they’d stayed in the wine cellar much longer than Jacob had planned. They only left when Jacob wanted to say their goodbyes and get Ezekiel home where they could be truly alone and lose themselves in each other.

Cassandra could see why Ezekiel would be upset that that hadn’t been it. It was a good one. She nodded, “Yeah…Jacob said it got kind of intense.”

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Yeah. It…I get it. I get that he’s got something planned, and I’m not worried, but…fuck. I need to do something before I crawl out of my skin. I just want...”

He trailed off, and let out a tiny, sad laugh. “Is it dumb that I just want to feel like he’s mine already? I know he’s mine, ring or not. But…”

Cassandra put a hand on his arm. “Hey, it’s okay. I don’t really understand, but people buy each other rings for a reason.”

He nodded and went back to digging through one of the supply closets.

Cassandra still wished she could do more, though. “So what exactly _are_ you doing?” she asked.

Ezekiel held up his lock pick set and the glass cutting gel before shoving them in his pockets.

“I’m going ring shopping.”

(-:-)

Ezekiel’s version of ring shopping, Cassandra found out, was pretty unorthodox.

And it wasn’t just the part where he had stolen it.

Most people didn’t get their engagement rings from the Louvre, after all.

Jacob was going to have a heart attack when he realized.

Still, Cassandra kept up with Ezekiel on his heist, doing what she could to keep him in as little trouble as possible. They got back to the Library a little later than expected, and Cassandra wasn’t surprised to see Jake hovering near the backdoor nervously.

With the jitters worked out, Ezekiel strutted in like everything was fine, kissing Jacob before asking what they had missed that day.

Eve had been the one to answer, saying Flynn had mostly just spent the day playing with Excalibur, while she helped Jenkins with some reorganizing. Jacob claimed he’d been doing some writing.

“Well,” Cassandra said afterwards. “We’ve been running around all day, and since it’s been so quiet here, why don’t we go grab dinner and drinks?”

“I could use a beer,” Ezekiel agreed. “First round is on Jacob.”

“Hey!” Jacob blurted, although he was laughing as Ezekiel revealed that he had Jacob’s wallet. Cassandra giggled too, going and grabbing her purse, hoping this would be a lighter affair than the dramatic almost-proposal the night before.

She wasn’t disappointed. The majority of the night was just a fun night out with friends. Ezekiel and Flynn insulted each other, while Eve kept the piece and told them that they were all children, and Jacob laughed in commiseration. Jenkins made snide remarks that made everyone smirk, and Cassandra looked around, just glad that she had these wonderful people to call family.

She shared a look with Jacob as what was deemed to be their last round came to the table. Jacob had been keeping an eye on Ezekiel over the course of the night, just being sure that he was actually okay after his behavior earlier, but also kept his distance. They weren’t on a date, so neither of them were so eager to get in on any PDA with their friends around. And, though, Cassandra did catch them making dopy faces at each other a few times, it really seemed just like any other night out with friends.

And that was kind of the point.

Jacob had wanted a night for family. All of them meant so much to the two of them. Just hanging out with everyone, laughing at each other and gabbing about whatever topic came up, completely comfortable being themselves. It was the kind of simple happiness they’d never had before.

In another universe, Jacob possibly would have proposed there, surrounded by their friends.

Cassandra knew he had debated making an elaborate speech, some kind of toast that made it sound like he was doing it then and there. In the end, it hadn’t seemed right though. Jacob kept their romance mostly private, and while he could recite poetry for hours, he wasn’t a man of many words when there were so many people around.

So, instead, Cassandra raised her glass. “Hey,” she said, getting everyone’s attention. “To friends?”

Eve grinned. “To good friends and good food,” she agreed, adding in her drink.

With a snort, Ezekiel said, “To adventure and a wild ride.” He looked at his boyfriend suspiciously, and Jacob snorted.

Before he could add anything, Flynn joined in too. “To the pursuit of knowledge.”

Even Jenkins went along with it, adding “To Longevity-hopefully, not just mine.”

There was a dramatic pause, as everyone looked at Jacob. After the week they’d been through, everyone knew what was coming, and they were expecting for this to be another one of Jacob’s near-proposals.

But Jacob just smiled before saying, “To love. I don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere where there was more of it than here with you guys.” He turned to Ezekiel, giving him a meaningful look before slinging an arm over his shoulder.

Cassandra smiled brightly, looking away as he kissed the side of Ezekiel’s head, but let him go. She shared a look with Eve, and she could tell that they were both as excited as could be for the next day.

(-:-)

After everything, the final day was the most normal of them all…with one exception.

As they all shuffled into the building, all of them were excited as could be for what was coming. Jacob had already gotten Cassandra to agree that she’d get everyone out of the annex before the time arrived, and she would comply.

But she was also definitely not missing this.

So, she got there early, and pulled the magic mirror into Jenkins’ lab before anyone could catch her doing it.

In her defense: she had done half the work this week, if only because she spent it dealing with the boys. She deserved to hear the proposal.

After that, life went on as normal. The morning was spent doing their normal work around the office, though conspicuously, everyone stayed close to the main room. Cassandra kept Ezekiel from bouncing out of his skin and occupied by helping her diagram a concept she was working on to break spells apart. He was so caught up in the concept she was on that he didn’t even realize when Eve pulled Flynn out of the room.

At a certain point Jacob walked over from his project to join them, at least nominally interested the idea of disrupting spells through opposing electronic symbols. Ezekiel teased him for trying to keep up with the math discussion, and playfully dodged out of the way when Jacob tried wrestling him into submission.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. “You know, I think Jenkins has some books on something similar to this, I’m gonna go ask where he’s keeping them.”

“No!” Ezekiel blurted dramatically. “Don’t leave me at his mercy!”

Jacob took the moment to grab Ezekiel from behind, and lifted him off of the floor, causing the thief to let out a squawk of laughter.

With a little giggle, Cassandra turned around and left the room.

She scurried into Jenkins lab, unsurprised to see Eve waiting by the mirror too, with Flynn and Jenkins looking on nearby. “Are they still goofing around?” she asked, taking the spot next to Eve as she watched the image on the glass.

“Of course they are,” Eve sighed fondly. “Did you expect anything different?”

Cassandra nodded, ceding the point as she looked back at the mirror. Ezekiel, who had finally bent to Eve’s will and learned some basic evasive maneuvers, had managed to throw his weight so that they went crashing to the ground, and then rolled off of Jacob to escape to the other side of the table.

“You’d think after all of the other things they’d done this week, this would be a bigger deal,” Flynn muttered. “I mean-didn’t they redo their first date? This is literally just another day for them.”

Cassandra smiled, and turned back to him for a second. “So?” she asked.

Flynn frowned. “So…marriage proposal? Didn’t Jake do all of this so that he could get the perfect proposal? And this is what he picked?”

She shook her head, and looked back at the mirror. “He didn’t just pick this. He picked the whole week,” she said.

Next to her, Eve started to smile a little. She looked back at her fiancé, and just indicated the screen. “Just watch. You’ll catch on.”

Back on screen, Jacob and Ezekiel had both collapsed laughing on one of the benches. Jacob had his back against the table, while Ezekiel had slid horizontally, threatening to fall into Jacob’s lap while Jacob held him with one arm.

Jake was the first to stop laughing, looking at Ezekiel with a smile as he caught his breath before leaning down, and kissing the smile off of Ezekiel’s face.

On the other side of the laboratory, Jenkins mentioned, “You know, they’re going to find out we eavesdropped, and we are going to face some form of retribution.”

Cassandra just waved him off. “Please, they owe me and they know it.”

“That isn’t going to save the rest of us,” Jenkins sighed.

“You can leave,” Eve suggested.

Jenkins huffed, but stayed where he was.

In the main room, the kiss broke, and Ezekiel smiled up at Jacob. “You are ridiculous.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Jacob said. “You’re definitely the one who started this.”

“I did not!” Ezekiel gasped, mocking indignance. “You were definitely the one who grabbed for me.”

Jacob let out a little laugh. “I wasn’t talking about the last five minutes,” he said. “I was talking about all of this week.”

That made Ezekiel pause, and look up at Jacob with a slightly startled expression on his face. Jacob just smiled.

“When Cassandra told me what you said, I kind of wanted to strangle you, but I also think I should’ve expected it. You’re always there to change my plans, and even when it’s something I don’t think I want, I’m always wrong. You’re impulsive, and it’s never failed to bring exactly what I need.

“This time, you gave me a week to find a way to propose to you. I didn’t think it would be enough time. How could I possibly find a way to tell you how much I love you, how I want to spend forever with you, in just a week. But, that was kind of dumb of me, because we do the same thing every day…”

As he spoke, the lights in the Annex started to dim, leaving a warm, romantic glow in the room. Flynn snorted a little, even as Cassandra raised an eyebrow. “Is the Library putting on romantic lighting?”

Jenkins shrugged. “It’s been known to do that,” he admitted, sounding a little annoyed actually. “Honestly, it’s led to a bit of awkwardness with Charlene.” Eve shot him a look, and he sighed. “Don’t ask.”

In the other room, Jacob continued, either unaware of the change in lighting, or not caring. “We go on adventures every day, sharing the world and new experiences, exploring together. We have so many firsts to go through together, and sometimes they’re life changing, and end in catacombs underneath Britain, or they’re simple like the first time we visit a new city, or they’re a first date, a first kiss. You get it.

“We spend days remembering how we love each other in those moments, how we’re loved by our family and friends. We do stupid shit like teasing each other, and nearly pushing each other over the edge because we’re both kind of petty, and still want to be together at the end of the day. We act ridiculous together because we can, wrestling at work and making weird competitions, because it’s fun, and why the hell not?

“Most importantly, even if that ended-if we suddenly faced the end of the world, if all of this just got to be too much, or we’re working office jobs because someone swaps out reality again, or when we get angry, we’ll never leave each other. We might be insane, and it might take us decades to convince each other of that, but this is it. And that’s what I wanted to tell you. I want to be with you for all of that, I want to be with you for all of the new adventures, and all of the old memories, and for all of the little moments when we’re just here, just together. Especially just the little moments.”

He paused, tugging at one of the necklaces he was wearing, the one where he’d been keeping the ring. The knot came undone easily, allowing him to slip the ring off.

Ezekiel was still in his arms, still shocked stiff that this had finally happened. His face was stuck in a smile though. He sat up a little, curling up to Jacob’s chest while his boyfriend held the ring up for him.

“So, Ezekiel Jones, would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

Slowly, Ezekiel nodded. “Yeah,” he answered quietly. “Yeah, I will.” He let Jacob slid the ring onto his finger before pulling him into another kiss.

It was long and sweet, and in Jenkins’ Lab, Cassandra threw her hands up in the air triumphantly. “Yes!” she cheered.

Eve grinned, and looked at the others, especially Flynn, who’s eyes were narrow. “What?” she teased. “Annoyed that you didn’t have a speech for our proposal?”

“I didn’t have a speech because you’re the one that asked me,” Flynn grumbled. “My speech would have been wonderful-in fact, just you wait for the wedding. My speech will be legendary!”

Jenkins snorted at them, and Cassandra interrupted as the kiss on the screen broke apart. “Shhh!” she hissed. “Come watch!”

Eve walked over, her brow wrinkled. “Why? Isn’t it over?”

“Ezekiel’s turn,” Cassandra insisted, making Eve’s eyes widen a little.

“What?”

The thief in question was still burrowed against Jake’s chest, just settling, looking up at his fiancé.

“I love you,” he said quietly. “I know I say it a lot, but sometimes, I start to wonder if you don’t know how much I mean it. I never had anyone before you, you know. Anyone I was with was always temporary. I knew they didn’t care about me, not really, or that I couldn’t trust them, or that I didn’t care enough to stay for very long anyway. And honestly, I thought it would always be that way, and I liked it.

“But-then the Library happened. I found a family. I found you. We didn’t always get along, and we still don’t, but the fact that you care about me has never been in question. Not really. You protected me before we really knew each other, and you do the same thing today. Five years later, you try to make it right when I’m upset, and help me get better when I’m sick, and I like to think that I do the same for you. I mean, I can’t stand to see you hurt or sad, so I better be. And being together makes all of the good times even better

“I’ve come a long way from being the solo act I used to be. The last few years with you have been more than I ever dreamed, and I want to spend so many more with you. I don’t think I realized that until I found the ring, you know? I wasn’t looking for it, I promise, but when I saw it, there was suddenly the promise of Forever. I’ve never thought that was real before, or that I would even want it, but with you…” he shook his head. “I want to be by your side for as long as I can. At this point, anything else just isn’t an option. Knowing that it’s the same for you,” he indicated the ring on his hand, “Means more to me than you’ll ever know, which is kind of why I was a pain in the arse about it.

“I’m not sure you knew that though, how badly I wanted this. It wasn’t a game I was playing, or selfishness because I wanted the ring. Although I did, because really, this thing is awesome. But mostly I wanted you, and I want to be sure you knew, so…” He paused, and everyone looking on took a sharp breath as he grabbed something out of his pocket.

Jacob was stunned at the ring Ezekiel had pulled out, obviously not having expected it, but also grinning as he compliantly allowed Ezekiel to detach his left hand from where it was delicately holding onto his boyfriend.

“You already asked me first, so I’m gonna guess your answer, and just put this on your finger,” Ezekiel declared, doing just that, before allowing Jacob to pull him up for another kiss, This one was quicker, and ended when Jacob decided to stand up, delicately shifting Ezekiel off of him before he started pulling him towards the door of the annex, ready to celebrate on their own.

And, after a week of dramatic near proposals and meddling, Cassandra just let out a little squeak of excitement.

Totally worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> The ring Jacob got for Ezekiel is this -----> https://jewelrybyjohan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/3477-Crushed-Opal-Meteorite-Dinosaur-Bone-Titanium_Kristen-Webb-1_SKU3477.jpg  
> it's made of meteorite, dinosaur bone and crushed opal  
> The ring Ezekiel got for Jacob is like this, or something similar ------> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Signet-ring_Black_Prince_Louvre_OA9597.jpg  
> Antique, priceless, and pretty.  
> And, for those of you wondering, the gift Ezekiel left Jake was just a pair of boxers printed with Van Gogh's Starry Night. (He didn't give them to Jacob in the end, but wound up wearing them himself, because his ass is a piece of art)


End file.
